accept [=except] agaynst
hym, and yt wass then thowght resonable. But now tyme, and truthe, have
vnmasked all difficulties, and I doo vnderstand, the Iugges are, yf they will
be indifferent to make a good report to her Magestie. Yet I know not by whatt
vnfortunat stare, ther arre so many disposed to wythestand yt, as the truthe,
muche oppressed by the freendes of the contrarie part, ys leklye yf not whoolye
to be defaced, yet so extenuated, as the vertu therof wilbe of littell effect.
Now for so muche, as I vnderstand yt ys ment to delay the report to the end, to
gett a compositione of her Magestye and so to bringe all my hoope in her
Magestyes gratious woordes to smoke, I am ernestlye to solicit her, to caale
for the report, whiche I showld not have neded to doo, yf gospell hadd bine in
the mouthes of the Lorde chiefe Iustice and the Atturnye, whoo dyd assure me
that at the next hearinge, whiche then was appoynted the second day of thys
terme yt showld have a full end. Now the matter dependinge in this sort, I fynd
my statte weake and destitute of friendes for havinge only relyed allwayes on
her Magestye, I have neglected to seeke others, and this trust of myne, many
thinges considered, I feare may deceyve me. An other confidence I had in yowre
selfe, in whome, wytheout offence lett me speake yt, I am to cast sume dout, by
reasone, as in yowre last letters I founde a waveringe style muche differinge
from yowre former assurances, I feare now to be left in medio rerum omnium
certamine et discrimine. whiche yf yt soo faale owt, I shall beare yt by the
grace of god, wythe an equall mynde, sythe tyme and experience have giuen me
sufficient vnderstandinge of woorldlye frayelte. But I hoope better, thowghe I
cast the woorste, how so ever for finis coronat opus. and then every thynge
wilbe layd open, every dout resolued into a playne sence. In the meane seasone,
I now at the laste, for now ys the tyme, crave this brotherly freendship, that
as yow began yt for me wythe all kyndnes, so that yow will continue in the same
affectione to end yt. and so I will end, these thinges only desyringe yow to
remember, that yow may know I doo not forget, how honorablie yow delt with her
Magestye at what tyme yow fyrst moved her, showinge how owt of nothinge to her,
for so in manner yt wass founde, yf by myne industrie I could of this nothinge
make sumthinge, she showld yet giue a propt and stay to my house. Agayne I know
and well perceyve how that this Eschet of Davers shalbe made a great matter, to
crose my good happ and to obscure the rest of the lands whiche discend from the
mother on Latimer syde, to her Magestye whiche ys as clere her Magestyes as
thys. Last of all I shall desyre yow to remember that I craved of this Eschette
only what I cowld recover in Wilshyre and Glocester shyres. Leuinge to her
Magestye the lands of Oxford, Lecester, Northamptone and Yorkshyre. whiche ys
of muche moore vallue. In the beginninge the whoole was thowght desperat, and
yet yow shall se now the lave to be clere of the Queens syde, notwythstandinge
yt hathe indured all the crosses that can be possible, ye mooreover I will say
to yow that I must informe, this case hathe opend her ryght to a far greater
Matter, then this of Davers, yf her Magestyes ryght and interrest be not
cunningly suppressed, and therfore I hoope her Magesty after so many gratious
woordes which she gave me at Grenwiche vpon her departure excedinge this whiche
I expect, will not now drawe in the beames of her princlie grace to my
discoragment and her owne detriment. Neyther will I conceyve otherwise of yowre
vertu and affectione towards me now att the end, then I apprehended all good ^hoope^
and kyndnes from yow in the beginninge. thus wythe a lame hand, to wright I
take my leue, but wythe a mynde well disposd to hoop the best of my friends,
tyll otherwis I finde them. which I feare nothinge att all, assuringe my self
yowre woords and deeds dwell not asunder.
Yowre Louinge Brother in Lawe
(signed) Edward Oxenford
Addressed (in Oxford’s hand): To my very welbeloued Brother
in Lave Sir Robert Cecill of her Magestyes priuie councell and principall
Secretarie. [seal]
Endorsed: Ianuary (blank) 1601 [=1602]; The Earle of Oxford
to my Master
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- A 1572 Oxford Letter and the Player’s Speech in Hamlet. August 11, 2020. “The player’s speech has been a source of consternation among Shakespeare scholars for above 200 years. Why was Aeneas’ tale chosen as the subject?”
- Gutenberg, proto-Hack Writers and Shakespeare. May 26, 2020. “A less well known effect of the Reformation was that many young Catholic men who had taken religious orders in order to receive an education began to lead lives at large from monastic discipline. Like Erasmus and Rabelais they took up the pen.”
- Shakespeare’s Funeral Meats. May 13, 2020. “Famous as this has been since its discovery, it has been willfully misread more often than not. No mainstream scholar had any use for a reference to Hamlet years before it was supposed to have been written.”
- Shakespeare Scholarship in the Internet Age. August 12, 2018. “I love to be presented with a legitimate challenge to any of my work. This does not change the fact that such challenges are followed by an unpleasant sinking feeling. Had I missed something?”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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